vaniagala: ‘Discarded Things Once Loved’ by James Armstrong

Monday, March 04, 2019

‘Discarded Things Once Loved’ by James Armstrong

‘Discarded Things Once Loved’ was originally created as part one of a two movement composition for a dance production choreographed by Vania Gala at the University of Northampton. Initially, James began making textural recordings by playing various hand percussion instruments and non-musical objects against muted strings. Things like rattles, shakers and hand drums were used to bring out the non-standard qualities of the electric guitar. He added some more conventional drones by sending swells through the usual delay and reverb combination so that it retains some of the characteristics of my previous releases. Everything was improvised and none of the sounds recorded were planned and James would like listeners to treat the album as an opportunity for discovery, to allow the longform recordings time and space to evolve.

All of the items that were used to play the guitar were gifts from an ex-partner and their family. As much as James was trying to avoid thinking about that period of time, there was no escaping it when the items were physically in his hands. From here the title ‘Discarded Things Once Loved’ emerged as the instruments had been hidden away gathering dust for quite some time. James also strived to see what sort of sounds could be created as a result of playing the guitar in such a way that the majority of his control and intention was removed from what came out of the instrument.

credits

released March 10, 2018

Written and produced by James Armstrong
Mastered by Alexander Roberts
Photography by Penny Day
Artwork by Harry Towell

license

https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/album/discarded-things-once-loved

No comments:

Post a Comment

Vania Gala

Vânia Gala is a choreographer and researcher based in London. She holds a BA in Dance from EDDC (European Dance Development Center, Arnhem) and Master of Arts in Choreography with Distinction (Trinity Laban). She is a PhD candidate at Kingston University and a PASS studentship awardee. Gala’s research, choreographies and "conversational performances" explore the critical potential of opacity and withdrawal in choreography in the present time. Latest performative interventions include the give&take series at Tate Modern and Mesa para Práticas de Cabeça para Baixo ou de Pernas para o Ar at Museum of Modern Art Calouste Gulbenkian (2019). Collaborations as performer have involved Les Ballets C. de La B., Constanza Macras and Sonia Boyce. She has collaborated as a choreographer with visual artists Sonia Boyce, Harold Hoffeh and Griot theatre company.. Commissions include “Cooling Down Signs” a Pan- European commission by Beyond Front@ performed at Dance Week Festival (HR), D.I.D (AT), Front@ Festival (SI), Bakelit (HU). In 2019 she was awarded Best Choreography Award by Theatre Guide Awards (Portugal) for her collaboration with GRIOT. Her choreographic work has been performed in Angola, Portugal, Norway, Germany, Ireland, UK, Russian Federation and Austria. In 2005 she was awarded with “Best Female Performance” at the Dublin Fringe Festival, was part of Aerowaves Festival at the Place, London and of the 1st Triennial of Luanda (Angola). In 2007 she performed at the 1st African Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Vânia Gala has supervised MA and MFA dissertations (practice-based, practice-as-research and fully written) and has taught practice released based technique, Composition Modules and Choreography. Prior to Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance she taught undergraduate modules at Northampton and Kingston Universities.